The Scoop
by feari teiru
Summary: Everyone has a story to tell, a hidden chapter of their lives locked away itching to tell the world. Some more dangerous than others. And it's her job to tell that story.
1. Chapter 1

**The Scoop**

**Summary: **Everyone has a story to tell, a hidden chapter of their lives locked away itching to tell the world. Some more dangerous than others. And it's her job to tell that story.

**1; **home again

"You're lost?!" Natsu all but shrieked down the phone line, "what happened to, _shut the hell up Natsu, I've got this_? What happened to that? God damn it Gaj-"

_Click._

Dark auburn eyes rolled to the back of his head as he flippantly chucked his mobile phone into the open holdall on the passenger seat. He'd forgotten just how irritatingly loud his younger brother could be. His time away from Magnolia had been both a blessing and a curse it seemed.

Gajeel yawned as he peered down the poorly lit road before him, trying to find the right exit. It was that awkward time of the morning where the automatic street lights had decided it was light enough for them to be of no use, but the sun was still slowly emerging from it's slumber submerging the world in an odd pinkish glow.

Far too early for any decent human being to be awake.

And yet, here he was, rattling along the empty roads in his old fading grey 1974 Chevy, trying desperately not to put too much pressure on the clutch because, _God know's _he can't afford another repair just yet.

He smirked as the vehicle chose that moment to splutter slightly. Natsu was always telling him to just get rid of it and invest in something that wasn't about to celebrate it's fortieth birthday. But Gajeel couldn't. He wasn't a sentimental person, something he prided himself on, but the truck was just something he couldn't give up. Natsu often joked that he'd drive it into his grave, and Gajeel couldn't help but agree.

His smirk quickly faded as the holdall began to vibrate and light up. He glanced downwards and saw his phone screen flashing with _NATSU calling_, and he groaned.

"What?" he snapped, snatching the phone up and angrily thumbing the call accept button.

"Where _are _you? I told you I needed you early today!" Natsu whined.

"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel muttered, feeling only mildly guilty at having let his brother down, "I just turned down the North Hargeon exit, I'll be twenty minutes."

"Great! So you'll only be an hour and twenty minutes late!"

"Hilarious," Gajeel deadpanned before hanging up the call and tossing his phone back into his holdall. He was beginning to regret offering his services to his brother.

He'd been away from home for the last three years, spending his time travelling around Fiore in search of someone. He didn't tell anyone why exactly he'd left. One day he had just packed up his bags and drove to Natsu's home. He told his brother he'd be gone for a while, and that Natsu was in charge of looking after their sister. To his relief, Natsu hadn't asked any question. The man had simply nodded and ordered Gajeel to return home safely.

Their sister hadn't taken the news as well as Natsu. Gajeel would never forget the sound of her bellows on the message she'd left for him on his phone. To this day he marvelled at how such a tiny creature could produce such a frightening noise.

But Gajeel had still left. It had been something he needed to do, else he knew he would have gone insane.

His three year trip didn't throw up any answers to the hundreds of questions he had milling around his mind and if he had had his way, he would have extended the trip until every question was answered. Unfortunately, a call from the bank warning him he was hovering dangerously close to depleting all his funds put a halt on any plans he had and he quickly found himself mapping out a route back to Magnolia.

When he called up and told them he'd be back within a few weeks, his sister had shrieked before gleefully describing how she was going to _hurt him _for daring to leave for so long without saying goodbye and Natsu had offered him a job.

Gajeel frowned as he turned down yet another empty road.

In three years so much had changed.

His little sister had graduated from university (he had missed her graduation and she was still furious about it) and was well into her medical residency.

And Natsu.

He blew out the air in his cheeks as he thought about how far his brother had come. Two years his junior and Natsu already had gained nationwide exposure on his "exquisite sculptures" - that was how the newspaper had described them.

And what did _he _have to show for the last few years? Nothing but an empty bank account. The thought was rather depressing.

He shook his head as he switched gears and took the truck up a fairly shallow slope, his eyes widening at he caught sight of an old building at the top of the slope.

"Typical" he muttered, shaking his head in dismay. In three years, his brother hadn't changed a bit.

"_Oi!" _Natsu hollered from his perch on large rock that sat just outside the building, "about time!"

"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel grumbled as he ground his truck to a shaky stop, grabbed his holdall and flung open the truck door, "nice to see you too."

Natsu's face split into a familiar, blindingly bright grin as Gajeel walked over to him, "you haven't changed!" he said as the two bumped fists before making their way into the building.

"Neither have you. Who the hell has so much energy at 6am?"

"Six _twenty _AM," Natsu said pointedly, "and I had a lot more at 5am, you know, when you were supposed to be here."

"Sorry I missed it."

Natsu chucked his head back and roared with laughter as they entered the building, "we've missed _you_, you know?"

"We?"

"_We!" _

Gajeel froze as a fairly short woman with long blue hair emerged from an open door. Her hands were placed carefully on her hips, her brows were furrowed together and her lips were pursed.

"Ah, Wendy," Gajeel said, trying his best to ignore Natsu's sniggers, "hey."

"_Hey, _big brother," Wendy sniffed, before running towards him and, quite literally, jumping into his arms.

With ease, Gajeel caught his 23 year old sister who barely hit the 5'5 mark and squeezed her tightly. He hadn't realised just how much he had missed her.

"I'm still mad at you," she said once she finally let go and stepped back to assess her brother, "you missed my graduation _and _my last two birthdays and..." her eyes widened and then quickly narrowed, "did you get another piercing?"

Gajeel frowned before nodding, "ah...yeah, two," he answered absentmindedly as he ran his forefinger over the two piercings above his left eyebrow. If he could have his way, his entire body would be a mass of tiny silver and grey dots. But Wendy didn't like them, insisting that they damaged his employability chances, so he had to make do with the odd one here or there. Wendy still thought he had too many.

"Alright, alright," Natsu cut in quickly, "you can chew Gajeel out later tonight, right now I need him to actually do what I'm paying him for."

Wendy laughed and Gajeel managed a small smirk, but he couldn't help but wince internally at Natsu's words. _27 years old and relying on his younger brother to keep him alive._ It wasn't a very comforting thought.

"Ah, I should get going anyway, my shift in A&E starts at 9!" Wendy spun around and quickly hugged Gajeel, as if she were afraid he would disappear again, "you're coming to mine for dinner tonight, no excuses, bye!" and with that she was off, dashing back into the room she emerged from to grab her belongings.

"She doesn't live with you anymore?" Gajeel asked curiously as they walked up a flight of stairs.

"She moved out just after she graduated, got an apartment with a friend."

"Hm," it felt odd to know just how much his younger sister had grown up in his absence. He remembered all too clearly how she would cling to either his or Natsu's legs as child, refusing to leave them to attend nursery school. For some reason, he had imagined it would be like that forever.

He followed Natsu in silence, pondering on the growth of his small family in his absence, until Natsu pushed open a set of doors and walked them into a large studio.

"It's a mess," Gajeel noted as he stared around.

And it was, everywhere he looked there were buckets filled with a white or brown substance, and it a lot of cases it look liked they'd solidified. Broken pieces of clay were littered everywhere. And he had to watch where he stepped lest he step on one of the many scalpels that lay haphazardly on the floor.

"Isn't this a health and safety hazard?"

Natsu shrugged and walked over to a large window, "out there," he pointed into a fairly large garden, "that's my kiln."

"Kiln?" Gajeel frowned, staring at a large oval structure with a thick black door running through the middle.

"Oven," Natsu confirmed, "I make all the sculptures or vases or pots or whatever it is I've been commissioned to make up here, then I take it down in the lift," he nodded to the elevator in the far corner of the room (that Gajeel personally felt didn't look particularly safe...), "and cook it in my kiln!"

Gajeel didn't miss the way his eyes lit up as he discussed his craft. It was odd to know that Natsu had found something he was so passionate about. As a kid, and even into their teens, he was a little devil who's only talent seemed to revolve around breaking things. Knowing that he spent his days pouring his heart and soul into works of art that people fought over to have was a strange thought.

"So what do you want me to do?" he dropped his holdall to the ground with a loud _thud_ and peered eagerly around the room, statues and vases and pots and things he had never seen in his life lined the walls. He couldn't believe his bratty younger brother had created all of these. It excited him, "you want me to help you make 'em?"

To his surprise Natsu laughed, "oh...oh..._God _no!" Natsu cackled, wiping his eyes dramatically, "I can just imagine the type of crap you'd create!"

"Oi! I'm artistic," Gajeel snapped.

"Mmm," Natsu hummed absentmindedly, "no, you're going to be my delivery boy!"

.

.

.

His back _hurt_. How the hell Natsu's creations managed to weigh so much, he would never know. Even one tiny vase took all of his strength to lug towards the lift and he wasn't even allowed to _throw _them into the back of his truck in case they broke and Natsu chucked him in the kiln.

That was an actual threat Natsu had made and judging by the glint in his eye, not even Gajeel was brave enough to test it out.

His truck wheezed as he placed the first delivery of the day carefully into the back and began strapping it down the way Natsu had instructed. He wondered if he'd ever get used to Natsu speaking with so much authority. The vase was one of Natsu's signature ones, and was the one that ultimately got him the exposure and attention he had. It came to Gajeel's waist and was squeezed in certain places to make room for the great dragon that wound itself around the vase, coming to a halt at the top as it bared it fangs and let out an eternal and soundless roar. Each dragon was slightly different from the last, giving Natsu's designs that unique flair that made him so popular. And Gajeel understood why, the dragon was _breathtaking_ and even he had difficulty believing that Natsu, blockhead Natsu, had created it.

"Oi! Ga_jeel_!"

Any feelings of warmth he had briefly felt towards his brother evaporated in an instance as he turned to see Natsu hanging out of the window from his studio.

"_What?" _

"Get your ass moving! I've got three more deliveries lined up for you," he paused a waggled his eyebrows evilly, "all on opposite sides of Magnolia, so I'd get going if I were you!"

The slew of curse words that erupted from Gajeel's mouth were enough to make anyone blush. Natsu however just laughed, more than used to his brothers wild tongue.

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.

.

Levy hissed as her car began to roll back slowly as she tried desperately to plough along the relatively shallow slope ahead of her.

"No, no, no, no!" she moaned as the car made a sound that didn't sound too encouraging. She knew when the company offered her a loan car to go on her assignment, she shouldn't have been expecting a top of the range BMW or anything like that. But, as she wailed as the lime green rust bucket spluttered its last breath, she couldn't help but wonder if she was the butt of some horrible joke.

She turned the keys in vain, hoping that it could encourage the car to start, but no such luck.

"_Jerks_," she hissed as she grabbed her camera bag from the passenger seat and swung the car door open. She should have guessed this was coming from the way her editor smirked as she handed her the keys, "hilarious. Bloody hilarious. Not only am I on the worst story of my career, I'm also stranded."

Huffing she stepped out of her car and peered into the distance. Her bad mood lifted ever so slightly as she saw her destination was only a few minutes walk away. Deciding that she would call for a taxi and tow truck – charging _both _to the company – when she was done, she began striding up the slope, noting that it seemed a lot steeper now she was walking. It didn't help that she was weighed down by a rather hi-tech camera that she wasn't entirely sure how to use.

Less than half an hour into her first job as a journalist, that didn't involve running around the office making tea for the real journalists, and she already wanted to turn back and curl under her sheets. It didn't help that she'd been assigned quite possibly the dullest story ever.

When she was a child she'd daydreamed of reporting on high case murders, or bank robberies, or kidnap cases, or maybe interviewing her favourite celebrities. She never imagined she be sent to write an in depth feature on a local artist.

How thrilling.

How cut throat.

How _boring_.

She didn't want to sit in a stuffy room every day for a month interviewing an old artist who probably thought the world of himself. She wanted to be out there, standing outside courtrooms or ducking under crime scene tape.

She stopped to take her breath and switch the camera bag to her other arm before she continued, deciding that she couldn't complain too much. In a year and a half since she had graduated, this was the first job as a journalist she'd managed to snag. She'd spent eight months working in various retail establishments to get enough money to pay her rent and then had managed to get a job working for the _Magnolia Gazette. _Unfortunately it was as an office admin assistant, but she'd been patient and after another eight months of _that _torture she'd been promoted.

_Junior journalist! _

The title stung a bit. At 23 she had long since stopped thinking as herself as a junior, but she wasn't going to protest. She had finally gotten a coveted job in her local newspaper company. After two months of training, they'd finally felt comfortable enough to send her on a job by herself.

"_There's a Magnolian artist whose been getting a lot of national acclaim. We're going to do a big piece on arts and culture in Magnolia for the Fantasia Festival in a few months, and I want a piece on him. An in depth piece. Find out things that nobody else knows. This man is a Magnolia native, _we _want the story that none of these national newspaper thought to get. Got it?" _

And like a fool she had nodded eagerly and dashed out ready to get the story.

She approached the building and wrinkled her nose as she searched for a bell or a buzzer. After finding nothing she pounded on the door with all her might, and hollered, "h-hello? Mr Dragneel?"

Silence followed her shouts and she didn't dismiss the option that she'd been stood up. Maybe this whole thing was a big joke. Maybe there was no famous artist and she'd just killed her only means of transport to make some of the guys in the office laugh. She turned on her heel and huffed bitterly, deciding that that was all too probable.

"Hello?"

She jumped, (and shrieked just a little), as a deep voice broke the silence. Turning around she found herself face to face with a man with light pink hair...and something on his nose.

"I'm..." she swallowed thickly, "I'm looking for a Natsu Dragneel. I'm a journalist for the _Magnolia Gazette, _Levy McGarden."

From the quizzical look on the mans face, she wondered if she was even in the right place.

"Ah!" the man yelped suddenly, "ah, I completely forgot about that. Hi."

"Hello?"

"Natsu Dragneel, at your service," he stuck his hand out and without waiting for her to even understand what was going on, he reached out and shook her own. His hands were dry and she belated realised were covered in the same substance that was on his nose.

"Oh," she blinked. She hadn't been expecting someone so young. She'd been expecting an old man with thinning, grey, hair and maybe a few missing teeth. She hadn't been expecting someone who wouldn't have looked out of place modelling.

"You wanna come in?"

She nodded dumbly as she followed him into the building, still shocked at how young Natsu was. How had he already achieved so much in his life?

"So, what did you wanna do today?" he asked as he led her up a flight of stairs, "an interview or...?"

She froze for a few moments before she answered, too enthralled in her own thoughts to come up with a coherent answer straight away.

"No, I thought today we'd just get to know each other. And I'd take a few pictures, and then we can schedule a few interviews in the near future?"

Natsu turned and frowned, "a few interviews? All the other places who sent someone just did it all in one day."

They walked through a set of double doors and into what Levy supposed was his studio.

"Did no-one tell you?" she ask, genuinely shocked, "we're doing a big feature on you. Not just a page. For the Fantasia Festival we're creating a little arts and culture pullout magazine, and you're the main attraction."

Natsu nodded to himself as he sat himself down on an old stool and spread his arms, "well...this is my studio. It's not much, but..." he trailed off and watched as she slowly made her way around the studio, inspecting it.

"Do you mind if I take pictures?" she asked, already fishing her camera out of her bag.

"Go for it"

Without further urging she tugged out the heavy camera and switched it on, ignoring the multitude of over technical buttons on it that would let her add filters or focus. She could figure all that out later. Right now, she was far too interested in getting a first impression of Natsu and setting the tone of her piece.

He was a messy guy. Everywhere she looked was covered in something that looked like it belonged in the trash, or at the very least, out of sight. Scalpels and other tools lay littered across the floor and worktops. Cups and plates, some with food still on them, were piled high next to a sink that seemed to be clogged with hardened clay.

_Click. Click. Click. _

Everywhere she stepped she took a picture. She knew she wouldn't use 90% of them in her final piece, but she never did underestimate the old saying, "a picture tells a thousand words."

She turned her attention away from the mess and looked more closely at what lined the borders of the room.

"Oh...oh my," she breathed as she tentatively reached out to run her fingers along one of the many vases that stood scattered about, "these are beautiful."

Intricately designed vases and pots and statues that looked like they would take an _age _and then some to create were everywhere.

"And you did all this yourself?" she asked, taking a picture of a statue of a pregnant woman gently clasping her stomach.

"Sometimes this kid helps out," he said with a smile as he watched her look around, "but otherwise, yep, just me."

"So there _is _a method to the madness," she murmured as she drew her attention away from a simply exquisite vase to a bowl of mouldy cereal.

Natsu laughed, "yeah, my sister complains a lot about my untidiness but..." he shrugged, "if it works it works."

Levy couldn't help but smile. She wasn't a "neat-freak" herself, but her apartment was always relatively tidy, but Natsu's humour and smile was infectious.

"You've got an amazing talent," she said earnestly as she walked back towards him and leant against the least cluttered worktop she could find, "how do you start something like this?"

He shrugged, "it was an outlet, I guess."

"An outlet for wh-"

The sound of someone cursing loudly and stomping along the dusty and stony floor outside, interrupted her question. Frowning, she shifted to the window and peered out,

"It seems you have a visitor, Mr Dragneel," she commented as she watched a tall man stride across the makeshift driveway, muttering what she imagined were curses under his breath.

"Natsu. And, judging by the noise, it's just my brother."

"Brother," Levy repeated as the man disappeared under the cover of the roof and, she assumed, entered the building, "you don't look alike."

She turned around and saw that Natsu's smile had wavered slightly.

"I guess not," he said quietly before hopping off his stool just as the doors were thrown open.

Levy jumped slightly as Natsu's brother strode into the room. Never in a million years would she have guessed they were related.

Where Natsu was short and lean, the brother was tall and bulky. Natsu's hair was an odd pink colour, but the brother had normal black hair though it flowed down his back in an unruly tangled mess. Natsu seemed to sport a permanent smile, the brother's eyebrows were squashed together and his lips seemed to be in a permanent frown.

"Can you believe some jackass decided to park their shitty car right at the start of your drive?" he grumbled as he flung himself onto a stool, "took me ten minutes to manoeuvre my truck just so I didn't ride the car off the road," he took a deep breath, taking a look around the room. His eyes narrowed into small little slits as his gaze landed on Levy, "and who's this?"

Levy smiled brightly, "the jackass who decided to park their shitty car right at the start of the drive!"

.

.

.

Gajeel sat in silence as Natsu and the small woman, who had introduced herself as, "_Levy McGarden, journalist for the Magnolia Gazette", _tried to organise future interview dates. To him, it seemed like a whole lot of fuss over nothing. Why she couldn't do it all now, he didn't know.

He reminded him of Wendy. They were both impossibly short for their age and both had a unique blue colouring to their hair, though Levy's was much lighter than Wendy's.

"...so I'll be round again next week Wednesday for our first interview?"

"Sounds great to me. Ah, I should be working on the Dreyar family commission that week, you'd probably get some nice pictures from that one."

"Awesome," Levy smiled before nodding to Gajeel politely as she walked towards the door, "it was nice meeting you... both of you. And.."

He frowned as she trailed off and a look of utter annoyance flitted across her face.

"_Damn it!" _she hissed, very slightly stamping her foot on the ground.

Gajeel and Natsu exchanged a confused glance, and Gajeel was glad to know that he wasn't alone in his confusion.

"Is everything alright?" Natsu asked curiously.

"No, no, no," she groaned, rummaging through her bag, "I forgot to call a tow truck, for the car," she added as she grabbed her phone and began furiously flipping through it.

"What'dyu need a tow truck for?" Natsu asked, a grin on his face that Gajeel had come to hate, "Gajeel will jump you."

"_Jump me?"_

"_Jump her?" _

"Her car..." Natsu clarified, the tips of his ears beginning to match the colour of his hair, "you can jumpstart her with your truck, right? Save her some money at least."

Gajeel rolled his eyes, it sounded like an awful lot of effort, yet he knew that if he declined Natsu wouldn't shut up about it for a _very _long time. He was almost as good at nagging as Wendy, and he knew he didn't have the patience to deal with it.

"Alright, let's go," he said brusquely, standing up, "and _you_," he rounded on Natsu, "you bring down the next delivery so I don't have to come back up here when I'm done."

"Yes sir!" Natsu mocked saluted before scurrying off to start getting the next vase ready to be delivered, "see ya, Levy."

"Nice meeting you Natsu, I'll see you soon!"

Gajeel pushed open the doors and began bounding downstairs, not bothering to check if she was following. After a few seconds he heard the sounds of small footsteps against the wooden flooring that told him she was following.

"Thank you for this!"

He jumped a little as she suddenly strode next to him, nearly making him stumble a little.

"I was worried I'd have to sit by the roadside and wait for ages, you know how those tow companies like to take their time and-"

"It's fine," he said brusquely, cutting her off with ease. She was a chatty one. Not that that surprised him, he supposed she was paid to be chatty.

"Oh..." she mumbled before falling silent.

To his pleasure, the walk to his truck continued in total silence. He ground to a halt once they reached his truck and almost sniggered as she gently bumped into him, taking off guard by his abrupt stop.

"I'll drive us down and jump you...get your car jumped," he amended quickly, not liking how _suggestive_ the first way sounded.

"Thanks," she mumbled again, walking round to the other side of the truck and climbing in with ease, "it's very old."

Gajeel snarled. The trucked spluttered. Levy laughed.

"Don't insult the thing that's about to save your ass," he grumbled as he began to slowly drive down the drive.

Levy shrugged, "I just don't want you to put your truck through anything it can't handle."

He glanced over towards her and saw she wore a smirk on her face. She was teasing him.

"Yeah well, if anything happens to this _piece of art_, I'll send you the bill."

They had reached Levy's car now and she laughed loudly. She had a weird laugh he decided, it came out as more of a splutter and a snort as opposed to a shriek of laughter, but it suited her.

"Oh, Mr Dragneel, I'm pretty sure your truck is older than my hunk of junk out there. I wouldn't call it _art_."

She was still snorting to herself as she popped open the truck door and jumped out.

Gajeel frowned as he watched her jog quickly to the piece of junk she called a car. It had been a long time since someone how mistakenly called him _Dragneel_. Still frowning, he popped his hood and fumbled round the back of his seat for his cable box. Once his fingers wrapped around the cool handle of the box he yanked it out and followed Levy's lead out of the truck.

"What do you need me to do?" Levy called. She was sat in the drivers seat, hanging out through the open door.

"Headlights," he grunted as he began attaching the cables to his own car battery, "check your headlights and dash, tell me if they light up!"

"Right!"

The cables attached correctly, he turned around to watch as she pursed her lips and attempted to turn her headlights on.

"Uh...um...the dash lights are coming on...but very dull," she shouted, "what about the headlights?"

The bright sunlight made it hard to see with ease, but he squinted at her car and saw a faint speck of light where it should have been blindingly bright.

"Yeah, same. Alright, turn 'em off."

Obediently, Levy obeyed and hopped out of the car, "can you fix it?"

He grunted in answer, not caring if she wasn't as of yet quite adjusted to "Gajeel language" (as Wendy had dubbed it) to know that a quick succession of grunts meant "yeah".

"Quite the talkative one, aren't you," she mumbled, watching as he took the other end of the cables and easily attached it to her car.

"Get in your car, and don't start it until I tell you to," he ordered, brushing past her quickly to get back into his own truck.

He almost laughed as he watched her frown down at his truck before shaking her head and obeying his command. She clearly wasn't used to being spoken to in such a brusque tone. Once she was in her car, and for some reason shot him a thumbs up, he turned the key of his own truck and sat back as it rattled to life. He held the truck in it's place for just over a minute before ripping the key out and turning the ignition off.

"Oi, try now," he shouted, sticking his head out of his window.

Once again, she gave him a thumbs up before furrowing her brow as she turned the ignition. Within seconds, her piece of junk car roared into life and Gajeel couldn't help but smirk as he watched her gleefully laugh and clap her hands together.

Still smirking he got out of his truck and jogged quickly over to hers, yanked the cables out of her hood and slammed it shut.

"Thank you so much!" she smiled up at him, her lips stretching from ear to ear, showing off perfectly white teeth.

Against his better judgement, he managed to muster up a half smirk, half smile for her, "no problem," before he turned to walk back to his truck.

"Thank you Mr Dragneel! I'll see you next week maybe?" she called as she began putting her car into reverse.

There it was again. _Dragneel._

"It's Redfox," he said suddenly, turning back around just as the car began rolling away.

"Hm?"

"Redfox. Gajeel Redfox. That's my name."

"Oh...I'm sorry..." she bit her lip, "you and Natsu aren't biological brothers?"

"No," he said before turning around and waving, "see ya."

"Goodbye...Gajeel!"

He didn't watch her drive away, but if he did he still probably wouldn't have noticed the curious and inquisitive look that had taken up residence in her eyes.

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**A/N: **So, you know when you _know _you probably shouldn't start another story because you have stories that are just chilling there not being updated but you still start another story because you have absolutely no self control? That's me right now!

But, I have written the first four chapters of this story already! And I'm going to update them once a week, so that gives me four weeks to write the next three+ chapters so HOPEFULLY, this will get updated properly and regularly because I've actually got a real schedule to work with. So check back every Tuesday (/Wednesday depending on timezones) and there should be an update! But you know me, I'm terrible at updating!

Anyway, this idea actually started with Natsu. Because I was watching a mini documentary on clay sculptures (I know, I'm the life and soul of the party!) and the part with the kiln came up and it just reminded me of Natsu and that he'd be really good a cooking them and I figured, hell why can't he be good at making them. But I didn't really want to write a NaLu story so I just brought in other elements to make a GaLe story and voila this was born!

So Levy is a journalist in this story, and I know that she generally prefers to read and doesn't think she's a good writer in canon but that is the beauty of an AU, *cackles evilly* I'm doing journalism at university so the feelings Levy feels in this chapter are _very _real thoughts that come from us rookie journalists. The amount of "dull" stories I've had to do in my three years...*shudders*

I think my favourite stories are where the characters are doing average/monotonous jobs, and not really high octane ones so maybe that's why I'm really enjoying writing this as opposed to AtC where it's more **_adventure. _**Who knows.

Rated T for _now _but I'm toying very much with raising that to an M, but it won't be happening for a while so let's not worry about that!

Also, I'm experimenting with trying to describe better in my writing instead of being so conversation heavy because I think I suck at that so, yes, tell me how you think I do with that...

Please review guys :)


	2. Chapter 2

**The Scoop**

**Summary: **Everyone has a story to tell, a hidden chapter of their lives locked away itching to tell the world. Some more dangerous than others. And it's her job to tell that story.

**2; **a beginning

She yawned as she dropped her keys into the bowl that sat on her dining table, wincing just a little as they loudly _clinked _against the glass. One of these days, she was going to hear a smash following her actions, she knew it was only a matter of time.

She moved around her cramped little apartment with ease, sidestepping overflowing bookshelves and boxes full of books that didn't have a place, shoes and a few piles of clothes - she rose an eyebrow as she gently kicked one pile unable to tell if it was clean or not. Kicking her trainers off as she went, she eased herself into her favourite red armchair and let out a sigh of relief.

She was _tired_.

Once she'd returned back to the office after her initial meeting with Natsu, she'd naively expected that she'd be able to go home and maybe catch up with a few friends for once. Unfortunately, her editor had other ideas. She groaned and rolled her eyes as she thought of her editor from hell. It wasn't that she hated her, she just found her to be a tad overbearing.

There wasn't a soul alive in Magnolia who didn't know the name _Minerva Orlando. _She was a Magnolia native who had hit the big time a few years back. Levy remembered switching on prime time news to find Minerva's stern face staring back at her every evening for at least three years. Unfortunately her stint on TV was relatively short lived. Nobody knew the exact reason for her departure, but many gossiped it had something to do with a rather publicized argument with the country's reigning martial arts champion, Erza Scarlet, she was supposed to be interviewing. Minerva never spoke about it and quietly moved back to Magnolia, accepting a small time job as the Editor-in-Chief of the _Magnolia Gazette. _It was a demotion, everyone knew, but Minerva took it in her stride and under her almost militant regime, the newspaper was quickly running up the ranks of best newspapers in Fiore.

Levy supposed that was because most of her staff were too terrified to step a toe out of line. Her included. Minerva had two tones. One was a pompous, almost archaic tone of voice that suggested she believed she was better than everyone else – which Levy reckoned she did – and the other was a _bark._

"_McGarden. _My office. Now."

She had barked those orders to her the moment she saw Levy hop up from her small desk, intent on getting an early start on her evening. Reluctantly Levy had stifled her groan and scurried into Minerva's large office, wondering just what it was she'd done wrong now. To her surprise, she hadn't been subjected to several hours of yelling and hissing. Instead it was two hours of discussing her piece.

Minerva was strangely invested in the topic, she wanted to make sure Levy knew just how important it was.

"_This Fantasia issue is my ticket back into the big time," _she had said whilst looking longingly out of the window, _"every story in the mini-magazine must be to an excellent level. I won't accept any slip ups, understood McGarden?" _

Now, as she sat alone in her cramped apartment, she regretted her eager nod and "_yes ma'am, I won't let you down!" _Natsu was a nice guy and everything, but she just didn't know how she was supposed to write an award winning piece on him. How was she, a rookie on her first paid journalism job since graduating, supposed to unfold anything that any of the other professional journalists at the other newspapers and magazines had missed?

A mixture of a sigh and a groan fell from her lips as she delved into her bag and tugged out her small laptop along with the camera and cables. Within moments the iridescent bright white light filled the room and she hummed a tune as she waited for the camera to connect with the laptop.

She'd taken so many pictures during her afternoon with Natsu, she was sure she must've gotten _something _to help her get started on her piece.

"Nope," she breathed in annoyance as she slowly scrolled through the folder of pictures. She had images of Natsu's studio, of his pieces, and far too many of Natsu himself doing weird poses at the camera. Nothing _popped_, and she groaned as she found herself nearing the end of the camera roll. It wasn't that the pictures weren't nice, or funny or even cute at times, they just didn't tell a story that Minerva would approve of.

Sighing, she double clicked the last picture on the camera roll and peered at it. It was the only picture she'd gotten of Gajeel during her time there. Once he'd seen her camera he'd been adamant that she, _"keep it the hell away from me, you hear?" _and she hadn't been very inclined to argue, he wasn't the subject of her piece after all. However, he'd managed to accidentally creep into the frame of one picture.

Natsu was the focus, he was gesturing wildly at his latest creation, but Gajeel was in the background leaning against the wall. He was staring at Natsu with an exasperated look on his face. Levy couldn't help but smile as she dragged the picture out of the camera roll and dropped it onto her desktop. She pulled up the note application and quickly typed in, _**"family"**_. She wasn't sure if it was result in anything, but she could already tell the dynamics of his relationship with his brother was an interesting one. And why didn't they have the same surname. Was he adopted? Was Gajeel adopted?

Curiosity piqued she brought up a search engine and typed in _Natsu Dragneel_. She'd been given the job so suddenly, she hadn't had any chance to research her subject previously. Immediately the page was flooded with images of his statues and vases and his own personal website. She was mildly surprised to see that he had a Wikipedia page. He was a bigger deal than she'd thought.

"Natsu Dragneel, 25 years old," she read as she scrolled through the page, smiling at the incredibly goofy image they'd chosen for him, "not much is known about Dragneel's early life in Magnolia. He first drew interest from art scholars with his piece _Karyu no Hoko, _a magnificent flame sculpture...blah blah," she rolled her eyes as she scrolled through more and more detailed descriptions of Natsu's many creations and the amount of awards he had won.

"All very superficial stuff," she decided as she clicked out of the webpage and opened up a Word document.

She had decided on the angle of her piece.

It would be a personal one, with heavy emphasis on his childhood, where he learnt his skills, his relationship with his siblings.

"Hmmm," she hummed as she typed up her ideas furiously, "maybe I could poke around and try and find some childhood friends."

There was an obvious gap in the journalist world on stories about Natsu Dragneel, and she was more than happy to fill it.

.

.

.

He groaned as he followed Natsu up the staircase in Wendy's apartment block. He would never admit it to his salmon haired sibling, but his back was killing after lugging around his work all day. He wanted nothing more than to hightail it back to his own apartment and stand under an almost scalding shower.

Fortunately, he was wise enough to delay this particular desire. He didn't want to get on Wendy's bad side so soon after returning home.

"This place looks dodgy," he commented as they walked up yet another flight of stairs, "is she safe?" The walkway they found themselves in was poorly lit and Gajeel was oddly certain he could smell the stench of urine soaking into the corners of the walkway.

"It's all she could afford. And she refused my help," he added quickly, immediately knowing what Gajeel was gearing himself up to snap at him, "it's not that bad really. Her boyfriend's a nice guy, sometimes he helps out at the studio,"

Gajeel froze.

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah, Romeo. You remember Macao, he used to look after us when we were kids sometimes?"

Gajeel nodded slowly, though the description didn't do much to ease his concern. His memories of Macao were mainly of the man slumped across his couch nursing a hangover as a group of bratty children (himself included) ran wild in his home.

"Romeo's his son. He's a good kid. It was a complete coincidence they met at university and," Natsu shrugged, "the rest is history."

Natsu stopped abruptly outside a shabby red door and knocked twice. Gajeel wordlessly stood behind him, still trying to digest the information he had just learnt.

After a few seconds the door was yanked opened and they were met with the smiling face of Wendy.

"Ah, you're here! _Finally_," she added under her breath as Natsu sidestepped her and entered her apartment, "Gajeel?" she asked with a frown as Gajeel shuffled slowly after Natsu, "are you alright?"

It took him a few seconds to find his voice, "_boyfriend?_" he asked simply, unable to keep a mildly horrified look off of his face.

Wendy just laughed, "Natsu told you about Romeo then?"

They crossed the threshold into her apartment, "I'm not laughing Wendy!" he snapped, trying and failing to sound stern, "aren't you too young for that? Shouldn't you be focussing on...I dunno, your studies or something?"

Wendy waved an airy hand, "I'm 23 years old Gajeel, just because you weren't around didn't mean I stopped ageing."

He knew she didn't mean it as an insult, but he couldn't deny the small pang he felt in his chest as she uttered those words. He _had _missed a lot.

He shifted awkwardly in her hallway, "sorry," he muttered, "I just never imagined you breaking away from us like this."

She reached out and gently placed her hand on his forearm, "I'm not 'breaking away' from you two. You're my family. I'm just living my life. And...and..." she bit her bottom lip and looked up at him nervously, "and maybe you should too. Stop living in the past Gajeel."

He inhaled sharply and jerked his arm away from her, "how did you-"

"Natsu told me why you left," she said quickly, "_don't _punch him! I made him tell me. And...I don't want you running off like that again. That chapter in your life, in _all _our lives, is closed now. Please...just stay away from it."

Almost reflexively he nodded and he was relieved to find her smile return.

"Good!" she chirped before whirling around, "now come and meet Romeo! I told him some stories and showed him some pictures of you and he's _terrified_, so play nice."

"Yeah, yeah," he murmured, following his sister through her small apartment. Despite the situation he found himself in, his mood was dampened by her words.

_That chapter in your life, in all our lives, is closed now. Please...just stay away from it._

He _knew _it was closed. He'd spent the last three years of his life trying to pry it open to no avail. And yet he couldn't step away. He had just lied to his sister and he felt awful for it.

.

.

.

She whimpered pathetically as she dashed up the small slope towards Natsu's studio. Never in her life had she ran so late for anything. Let alone an interview with the person her piece was about.

Levy cursed under her breath as she went. She had opted to take public transport, deciding she didn't want to risk taking the old company car again, but as she sat on a packed and sweltering bus she began to wonder if she had made a mistake. As the bus stood completely still in traffic for nearly forty five minutes, she _knew _she had made a mistake. By the time the traffic got moving again she was nearly an hour late and for some reason Natsu wasn't answering his phone.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," she practiced as she proceeded to knock on the door, "there was a lot of traffic! I'm _so _sorry!"

Satisfied that she sounded sincere enough she took a deep breath and tried to flatten her hair down, more than aware that her light sprint up the slope had probably left her looking like a tomato with blue, frizzy, hair.

She heard the sounds of heavy footsteps storming downstairs and she put on her best apologetic face, ready to beg Natsu for forgiveness and for him to "_please please don't mention this to my editor!" _

The door flung open and she launched into her apology.

"Natsu, I'm so sorry, I- _oh!"_

"About damn time, I want- _oh!" _

Levy blinked in surprise as she stared into the glaring face of Gajeel, "Gajeel," she said with a small smile, "afternoon."

"Yeah," he replied, his glare turning into a look of confusion, "what're you doing here?"

Her smile quickly disappeared from her face, "I have an interview with Natsu..." she said uncertainly, "is he here...can I come in?"

"He's not here," he ground those words out, "something about traffic or whatever, I didn't listen to his excuses. And he didn't mention a thing about you."

She groaned as she realised Natsu had probably been stuck in the same traffic she had found herself in.

"Well, I _do _have an interview with him," she said earnestly, "can I come in...just to wait? I didn't bring my car today..."

He shrugged and stepped aside to let her into the building.

"Thank you! What're you doing here, anyway?" she asked, trailing after him quickly as he made his way back through the building, "do you work for Natsu?"

A dry laugh fell from his lips, "I guess I do."

For some reason, she got the feeling he wasn't all too happy with the arrangement. Sensing the atmosphere around her darkening with each passing second, she quickly changed the topic. He had led her back to Natsu's airy studio and settled himself on a stool.

"He's talented, right?" she said quickly, saying the first thing that came to mind. Granted it wasn't the most interesting thing she could have thought of, but it was better than nothing, "you must be really proud of him."

Once again, he said nothing but instead shrugged, and Levy felt a tiny bit of her sanity ebbing away.

"You're nothing like him," she muttered under her breath as she shimmied onto a stool opposite him, preparing herself to sit in a stony silence until Natsu arrived. To her surprise, he seemed to have heard her mumbled frustration.

"Yeah," he sniggered a little, "we get that a lot."

"I can see why," she shot back, smiling just a little. Where Natsu was chatty and open, Gajeel was damn near mute and closed off. She thanked her stars she wasn't writing her piece about him. She almost shuddered as she imagined how hard it would be to get a story from the man.

"So," she said loudly, determined not fall into an awkward stony silence that would leave her wishing she had just sat outside, "is it just you and Natsu?" she asked. She figured that despite Gajeel not being the most talkative man in the world, there was no harm in trying to get a start on her piece. He was Natsu's brother after all, perhaps there was a chance he would shine some insight into Natsu's world that had never been touched before.

"We have a kid sister," he replied after a few seconds of staring at her carefully, "she's 23."

Levy smiled, "not really a kid anymore is she?"

He shrugged, and Levy got the feeling that that was his favourite method of communicating.

"Are you all artistically inclined, or is it just Natsu?" she pressed, sensing the awkward silence creeping up behind them with growing speed.

For some reason, Gajeel seemed to find this question mildly humorous. He snorted. It was a small snort, and probably could have been mistaken for a throaty cough if you weren't looking at him as he made the noise.

"Just him. Wendy's book smart, Natsu's arty."

"And you?"

She prepared herself for the inevitable shrug of the shoulders but was surprised when he actually replied.

"Practical."

"Practical?"

"That's what I said."

She groaned and slumped lower on her stool, "can you elaborate?"

He smirked, "why do I need to, your story's on Natsu, not me."

"Yes, but I want to know more about his family, his early life, what inspired him to get into sculpting. I can ask him this all myself, but you're here in front me," she blew out a small raspberry, "you might be able to add a new perspective to it."

She glanced up at him, preparing to glare at him until he felt guilty, but froze, taken aback by the look on his face.

He wore an expression she couldn't quite place. It lay somewhere between sadness and anger.

"You aren't gonna get much from any of us on that topic," he said sharply.

Wisely, she didn't ask why, somehow sensing that his response wouldn't be kind or polite. Still, her curiosity was piqued.

There was a reason none of the other newspapers or magazines had written about Natsu's early or family life, and she was determined to find out why.

.

.

.

**A/N: **Oop forgot to upload this last night, but yeah, here is chapter 2. A bit shorter than what I normally work with, but I felt this was a cool place to end the chapter.

Cool! Chapter 3 shall be up next Tuesday/Wednesday, in the mean time...feel free to review. _(Seriously..._**_review_**_) _


	3. Chapter 3

**The Scoop**

**Summary: **Everyone has a story to tell, a hidden chapter of their lives locked away itching to tell the world. Some more dangerous than others. And it's her job to tell that story.

**_3; _**advice

_Gajeel scowled as he watched his pink haired brother run a crayon along the wallpaper of his home. No doubt _he _was going to get blamed for that. _

"_Stop it Natsu."_

_Silence followed as Natsu continued to run the crayon down the corridor and back up again. For once, he didn't seem to be drawing anything. The once cream wallpaper was now riddled with wonky dark orange lines in both directions. _

"_Stop it!" _

_He spoke more firmly this time as he took a step forwards, reading to snatch the crayon out of his hands, "you're gonna get _me _in trouble." _

_That was how it was. _He _was the oldest so he was supposed to stop them from being bad. It didn't matter that he was still a child, barely able to dress himself properly, it was apparently his job. _

"_Natsu. Stop it," he grabbed his hand and yanked the crayon away, throwing it behind him. He winced as Natsu shoved him backwards, causing him to stumble to the floor. _

_Wordlessly, Natsu picked up the crayon and resumed his vandalism. _

"_Why do you keep doing that? It doesn't even look nice!" Gajeel snarled, standing up and trying very hard to resist the urge to punch his brother directly in the face. _

"_Maybe if we're bad enough, they'll call Dad and tell him to pick us up," Natsu mumbled quietly. _

_Gajeel sighed. Natsu didn't understand. Or he wouldn't understand. Either way, he knew there was no point in reasoning with him. _

"_At least make something nice," he muttered before turning around intent of finding his sister._

_._

_._

_._

He awoke with a start. He rarely dreamed about his past, preferring to bury it amongst the rest of the baggage he carried in his heart. He remembered that day very well though. Natsu's bad behaviour got them sent away from yet another home. Of course, he had been blamed for it, but by that point Gajeel had been past caring.

Groaning, he flipped over in his bed and blinked wearily at the small alarm clock on his dresser. 3am. _Too damn early. _Willing sleep to take ahold of his once again, he flopped back into bed and lay there. After a few minutes of angrily glaring up at his ceiling, he sighed and decided sleep was a lost cause. Slowly he rolled out of bed and sloped lazily towards his cramped living room deciding to watch crappy TV until the sun rose. He was tempted to have a shower, but he knew the chances of him having hot water so early were minimal.

He smirked as he fell down onto his couch. He'd been so anxious about the state of Wendy's living standards, he'd completely forgotten about his own. The apartment he was renting out wasn't nice in the slightest. A small one bedroom, one cramped shower, one barely there kitchen, apartment with a strange green moss growing on more than one wall. It didn't help that the apartment wasn't in one of the nicest areas of town either. But after his little three year excursion, it was all he could afford. Natsu had offered him the spare room in his much pricier apartment, but he had declined hastily. Living with Natsu for over 18 years was more than enough to put him off for life.

Anyway, he didn't mind really. The only real time he spent in the building was whilst he slept and despite being away for so long, his reputation still followed him. No-one was stupid enough to bother him.

He flicked aimlessly through the TV channels, furrowing his brows as he passed late night shopping channel after late night shopping channel. With each passing second he felt his already sour mood, darkening. Every time he closed his eyes his was greeted with flashbacks from his dream and a low growl would escape his mouth as he shook his head and tried to push the image out of his mind.

What was it Wendy had said to him again? _Stop living in the past Gajeel...that chapter in your life, in all our lives, is closed now. Please...just stay away from it. _

He rolled his eyes. That was easy for _her _to say. She was far too young to be affected by it, let alone remember any of it. Gajeel and Natsu was all she knew. But for him, it was different. He could still remember _everything_. Natsu too. Though his brother seemed to be better at forgetting.

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

No, not forgetting. Natsu was _moving on, _heck, he _had _moved on. Something that Gajeel could never quite manage. Feeling a headache coming on, he stood up abruptly. His apartment was beginning to feel very cramped.

He'd had the same routine since he was a young child. Whenever he felt pressured or stressed he would run. Not for long and not very far, but he found it would help. It got him into a lot of trouble as a child. He'd lost count of how many times he'd been bundled into the back of a police car or frogmarched back to the home they were currently in because someone had reported him missing. It didn't matter how many times he told them that he was just clearing his mind.

It was nearing 5am by the time he managed to find a pair of warm sweats and trainers and actually make it outside. To his surprise, his neighbourhood was already stirring. Lights were shining through thinly curtain windows, he could hear the distinct sound of water running and even a woman singing quietly. For some reason, it was a comforting thought to know he wasn't the only soul up and wandering so early in the morning.

Stifling a yawn, he quickly took off down the road, vaguely remembering the old route he used to run along.

He couldn't deny, the more he ran, the more he felt his previous annoyance and frustration ebbing away. He knew it was still there, niggling in the back of his mind, but it no longer dominated the forefront. It wasn't a perfect situation, but he could deal.

_You should see a therapist._

He growled as Natsu's words floated into his mind and quickened the pace. It had been nearly two years since their argument regarding Gajeel's _obsession with the past_, and he had yet to put it past him completely.

_I'm serious Gajeel. This isn't normal. You need to forget. Grieve and forget._

The sound that escaped from his throat was almost guttural as he pushed himself faster until his muscles began to scream in protest. Why was everyone always trying to make him forget? He didn't want to forget. He wanted answers, _damn it_. He wanted the truth. He wanted to know why the hell _he _left. Why _they _left. He just couldn't understand why Natsu and Wendy were so eager to forget.

"Still beating yourself up?"

He froze and tensed as the deep voice cut across his musings. Frowning, he turned around slowly, preparing to lash out at the moron who dared to bother him so early in the morning. What he found when he turned around caused his words to catch in his throat, instead coming out as a sort of unintelligible croak.

"Lil?"

The tall dark man nodded his head, "Gajeel. Thank you for notifying me of your return."

Gajeel felt his cheeks begin to redden slightly as he walked towards the man, "I forgot," he mumbled truthfully.

"I can see that," he laughed as the two men bumped fists.

Ten years his senior, Lily Edolas was the closest thing to a present father Gajeel had once he reached his teen years. Gajeel wasn't ashamed to admit that if he hadn't met the man, he probably wouldn't have reached 21. Lily had saved his life in more ways than he suspected he knew. And he had completely forgotten about him.

Guilt wasn't an emotion Gajeel felt very often. He preferred to think that most people deserved the treatment they received from him. But not Lily. He deserved better.

"Sorry," he grunted, ducking his head a little, "I've been busy, with Natsu and Wendy."

Lily nodded and wordlessly the pair fell in step with each other.

"How was your trip?" he asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

Gajeel shrugged, "pointless."

"Ah."

Silence fell once again. Gajeel smirked, this was what he liked about Lily. The man never pried. He simply waited for you to offer up the information yourself.

"Why're you out here, Lil?" he asked, changing the topic, "you stalking me...again?"

Lily chuckled, "I haven't had to do that since you were seventeen. How old are you now?"

"27."

"Ten years since I last 'stalked' you. I doubt I'd be able too now, I'm getting old."

Gajeel snorted. The well built man didn't look a day over thirty. The only thing that told of his growing age were the few specks of grey hair that dotted around his thick black mane.

"I run along this route frequently," he said once he finished laughing, "I wasn't expecting to see you. What an unpleasant surprise. You made a lot of people very worried with that little disappearing act of yours."

Gajeel rolled his eyes, "are you here to lecture me?"

"It won't do any good. Your skull is made of iron I'm sure, not a piece of advice gets through to you."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Wendy was very worried," Lily continued, turning to look at his younger friend, "I know you think otherwise, but you do have people who care and worry about you here. Pay them some mind next time you feel like vanishing for three years."

"I've already dealt with Wendy," he grumbled, almost pouting, "promised I'd drop it all."

Lily rose an eyebrow and side eyed Gajeel, "really?"

Gajeel glared at him. Despite all Lily's good qualities, he was irksome. He seemed to have a sort of sixth sense that told him when people lied. No matter Gajeel told him, Lily would always question it.

"I'm not gonna leave again, isn't that good enough?"

"Not leaving again isn't the same as 'dropping it all'"

Gajeel shrugged, "what Wendy doesn't know, won't hurt her."

"And there," Lily sighed and shook his head, "and there, Gajeel, is where you are sorely mistaken."

.

.

.

"_Le-vyyyyy!"_

Levy smiled and waved towards the blonde who was currently bounding towards her, looking for all the world as if she had just stepped out of the front cover of a fashion magazine.

"Hey Lucy, welcome back," she called as Lucy plopped her handbag down on her desk, "how was your holiday?"

"Boring. Daddy spent the whole trip trying to convince me to come back home and live a life 'more befitting of my station'", she snorted and rolled her eyes, "you know, the usual."

Levy nodded and laughed. Since she started working Magnolia Gazette, Lucy was probably the best friend she had made. Sure she smiled and meekly muttered hello to everyone she passed as she made her way to her desk, but Lucy was the only one who invited her out to lunch or bothered to stop off at her desk to moan about their boss from hell.

"So" Lucy hummed as she waited for her laptop to purr into action, "rumour is it, you've finally gotten a story? A _real _one."

Levy giggled and mischievously waggled her eyebrows before sliding her chair across to Lucy's desk, "it's a real story, I guess..."

Lucy shrieked with delight and clapped her hands, "congrats! I knew they'd give you something sooner or later!"

"It's nothing exciting," Levy quickly added, "nothing like the stories you get sent on."

Despite only having been at the company for a year and a half longer than Levy, Lucy was constantly sent on the type of stories that Levy could only dream about. Just before her holiday she was sent on an undercover story to get the inside scoop on a corrupt Duke. Lucy broke the story before the police even had a whiff of what was going on. On top of that, Lucy freelanced for a fashion magazine and was always being given exclusive interviews for models and actors and actresses.

Levy knew she would never forget the day she walked into the office to find a shirtless Gray Fullbuster casually leaning against Lucy's desk.

She was certain _none _of their coworkers would forget that day.

A few weeks later Lucy received a signed copy of the magazine Gray, shirtless of course, had graced and she frequently received invitations for lunch or dinner from the man.

Oh what Levy would give to have those sorts of connections. But here she was, stuck with;

"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel," she said, "have you heard of him?"

She had expected Lucy to shake her blonde locks. She hadn't expected her response to be, "Natsu? Pink haired, over excited, a bit childish? This high?" she raised her hands in the air to measure his height.

"You _know _him?"

A coy smile fell across Lucy's face before she nodded, "when I first came to Magnolia, I bumped into him. That was about, oooh, five years ago now?" her smile dropped from her face slightly, "we fell out though. Shame. He was a nice guy."

For a brief second or two, Levy considered prying into Lucy's life, the fleeting look of sadness that flitted across her face was obvious, but she decided against it, sensing she may be crossing some sort of boundary.

"Anyway!" Lucy shook her head and smiled at Levy, "what's your story about? Those creations of his finally make him any money?"

"Yeah...actually," she said slowly, surprised that Lucy had known about his work, "critical acclaim apparently."

Lucy smiled, "good for him."

Levy squirmed in her seat, a sudden wave of awkwardness suddenly washing over her. It was very unlike Lucy to seem so withdrawn from a topic, she was usually all over everything, shouting and laughing her opinion aloud for everyone to hear.

"Could...could you tell me anything about him?" she asked nervously, "about his personal life? I can't find _anything_ and Minerva wants a really good story that nobody else has gotten before and I'm just at a complete loss and-"

"Calm down Levy," Lucy laughed, "you know I'll always help you out. What's your angle?"

She took a deep breath before launching into her idea. For some reason she really wanted to impress Lucy, whether that was because she just admired her as a journalist, or because of her previous friendship with Natsu, she wasn't sure.

"I like it," Lucy nodded once she was finished describing it to her, "it'll be difficult, but not impossible."

"How difficult?"

"They're a private family," she said quietly, that sad smile forming on her face again, "we were together – friends," she added quickly, "for about three years and I probably only just scratched the surface of his family life. They've been through a lot."

"Like what?"

Lucy shrugged, "where to start? Who have you met?"

"Just Natsu and his brother, Gajeel!" she replied, remembering the surly man, "he's a bit..." she pulled a face and Lucy laughed.

"_Gajeel_," she breathed with a smile as if she were remembering some private memory, "he's back then?"

"Back?"

"He left for a while. I'm not sure how long, we...um...we stopped talking before he came back. It really messed Wendy up. And Natsu too I think, he just refused to show it."

Unconsciously, Levy inched closer in her chair towards Lucy, this was just so fascinating. _This _was the sort of story she wanted in her piece. A family torn apart through some long lost pain brought back together through Natsu's creations. Her heart was fluttering just thinking about it.

"Why did he leave? Where did he go?"

Once again, Lucy shrugged, "you've met Gajeel, he's not the most talkative person in the world. I couldn't get much out of Natsu either. Something about Gajeel's father, I think."

"Not...not Natsu's father?"

"Natsu's father is dead."

"Oh."

"Mmm. He died not too long ago apparently," she blew out a raspberry, "they're not biological siblings you know? They all have different parents. Their parents were all siblings, and I guess they grew up living with each other, so they call themselves siblings. Not that it makes a difference," she shook her head suddenly, "and that's about all I know. They don't like talking about it."

"But _why_," Levy pressed, "something must have happened for them all to shy away from it so much. And I _bet _it's what inspired Natsu to create."

"Probably. But like I said, they avoid all discussions of it. It's kind of weird actually. Not Gajeel though," she sighed, "poor guy."

Levy rose an eyebrow at Lucy's choice of words. She had only met Gajeel very briefly, but she was very certain that the words "poor guy" were not something she would use to describe him._ "Annoying guy" "infuriating guy" "unhelpful guy"._..perhaps. But most certainly not, _"poor guy"_.

"Poor guy?" she asked, still frowning.

"Mmm. Where Natsu and Wendy have, I don't know, they've moved on from whatever happened in their past. Gajeel hasn't. I'd say, start with him."

"Lucy..."

"I know, I know," she chuckled lightly, "it seems daunting now, but you won't get anything out of Wendy and the more you push Natsu for answers, the more he'll pull away. Trust me. It's better you don't annoy the subject of your piece, right?"

"I guess...but...Gajeel?"

"You've got to butter him up," she waggled her eyebrows, "Gajeel seems scary. Hell, Gajeel _is _scary, but he's got a soft side. A few people are privy to it. I, unfortunately, was not one of those people, but...Wendy and a man called Lily were. He's capable of befriending people and opening up. You've just got to become that person."

"And how the heck am I supposed to do that?"

"You're the journalist. That's our job."

.

.

.

**A/N: **So no Gajeel x Levy interaction in this chapter, _sorry_, but this chapter was necessary and the next one does have interaction so yeah!

I _love love love love love love love love _Lily as a father figure it's one of my favourite things in the world it's so nice ahhhhhh.

Anyway, not much to say so just review please.

(REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW *echoes quietly in the background*)


	4. Chapter 4

**The Scoop**

**Summary: **Everyone has a story to tell, a hidden chapter of their lives locked away itching to tell the world. Some more dangerous than others. And it's her job to tell that story.

**4; **soaked

As she huffed walking up Natsu's ridiculously long drive, she couldn't help but feel her former admiration for Lucy's advice quickly ebbing away.

"_Gajeel is scary, but he's got a soft side...he's capable of befriending people and opening up. You've just got to become that person."_

Levy rolled her eyes. Sure, it was easy for Lucy to say that. _She _was a seasoned journalist who had quite possibly the most likeable personality on Earth. To be honest, Levy was secretly amazed that Lucy had apparently been unable to befriend Gajeel. The thought didn't fill her with hope. If the friendliest and best journalist she knew was unable to get any information out of him, what hope did she have.

"Next to none," she mumbled as she dropped her bag down on the little porch area and knocked loudly.

Natsu wasn't there. She already knew that. After their second meeting he had told her he wouldn't be at the studio for a few days, something to do with working on an out of town piece, though he had let slip that Gajeel would still be about.

"_Don't think that's gonna get you out of work" Natsu sniggered towards his brother who had just entered the studio._

"_Wouldn't dream of it," Gajeel snarled back, looking for all the world as if he wanted to punch Natsu squarely in the face._

She sighed as she knocked a few more times. It wasn't even past 9am yet. She had hoped that getting there only would have meant she would be able to catch Gajeel before he went out on his deliveries and various tasks for the day, but as time passed she began to wonder if she had missed him.

"Great," she muttered as she sat herself down on the dusty step, not caring that it would leave an annoying beige stain on her bottom. She didn't want to go home so early, nor did she want to sit on a step and wait from him to come back.

Heck, she didn't know if he even would come back.

He didn't seem to be the type to like taking orders. What if he was taking advantage of Natsu's absence and simply wouldn't turn up.

She groaned and dropped her head into her palms. That was looking more and more likely. As she began to debate the worth in waiting around, a loud crash made her jump.

"God _damn"_

_"Fuck"_

Curious, she pushed herself up and moved towards the direction she could hear the cursing and crashing.

It didn't take her long to find the source of the noise.

"O-oh..." she breathed as she turned the corner and found, _him. _

It wasn't a particularly hot day, in fact Levy was wearing a thin cardigan over her shirt, which is why the sight of a shirtless Gajeel made her mouth drop open in both shock and admiration.

"God fucking _damn," _he growled as he lifted up what looked like an old grate and chucked it on a pile of other pieces of equipment. She jumped slightly as the clanging sound reverberated around the small area.

His body was sweaty and for some reason was littered with ashy black smudges. She unconsciously bit her bottom lip as she watched him stomp across the yard, still growling curses with each step he took. He was _extremely _well toned. The way he was angled now gave her a perfect look at the his chest. He had the chest of someone who had once been an avid work out freak who didn't need to work as hard to maintain it anymore. Though slightly less defined she could clearly see the remnants of a very healthy six pack. She cocked her head to the side as he turned around and bent down, giving her a faceful of his bottom.

His sweatpants had begun to slouch slightly, revealing the tip of his boxers. _Very nice_, she thought as she watched. She had always guessed that Gajeel was fairly well built, his muscles were obvious through his clothes, but watching him like this seemed to ignite some sort of fire in her belly.

"_Oi_."

She blinked and immediately felt the blood rushing towards her face. He was staring right at her, a confused frown on his face. Forcing her gaze away from his chest, _why was it so sweaty damn it_, she took a few steps forwards and crossed the space between them.

"Good morning, Gajeel," she smiled brightly, hoping that her face wasn't as red as it felt.

"What're you doing here?"

Her smile dropped ever so slightly at his blunt way of greeting, "I came to speak to Natsu. Is he not in?" she lied flawlessly. Well, at least it sounded flawless to her. After a few excruciatingly long moments of silence staring at Gajeel's frowning face, she began to wonder if her lying skills weren't as up to scratch as she had hoped.

"Nah," he said suddenly, and she had to physically stop herself from sighing out loud in relief, "he's working on something out of town. Sorry."

"Oh no," she sighed, feigning disappointment, "what a shame."

He rose his pierced eyebrow at her, "yeah..." before turning back around, presumably to get back on with his work.

Despite the obvious dismissal in his actions, she squared her shoulders and lifted her jaw. She would _not _be defeated so early. Lucy would never let her live it down.

"So!" she said brightly, "what are you up to today?"

Her question had the desired affect. She heard him sigh loudly before he turned back around and glared at her.

"Natsu's not gonna be back till the weekend."

Levy shrugged, "I know that. Maybe I just don't want to go home yet. I'm going to be here a lot to interview Natsu, don't you think we should get to know each other a bit better?"

Once again, he sighed. Though this time it sounded a lot like a growl mixed in with a sigh. She suspected she was pushing his already limited levels of patience.

Startling her a little, he stood upright and stepped closer to her, so they were only a few inches away. She wrinkled her nose a little as his long hair created a sort of curtain around them. To her surprise, it smelt rather nice. She hadn't pegged him to be a "shampoo and conditioner" kind of guy.

"Gajeel Redfox. 27 years old. Wondering why a blue haired midget won't leave me alone to get on with my job. Happy?"

She blinked, confused for a few seconds before she understood what he was doing. Smiling a little she replied, "Levy McGarden. 23 years old. Wondering why a certain overly muscled giant won't take two minutes out of his day to speak to a friend. And no, I'm not happy."

He snorted and took a step back, shaking his head, "you're not a friend. You're someone hired to write about my brother. Nothing to do with me."

_Ouch_.

He turned around and grabbed something from the floor before moving towards the wall.

Levy wasn't a particularly violent woman, but at that moment in time she wanted nothing more than to kick him squarely in the shins. She had been warned about his anti-social ways by Lucy, but she hadn't expected it to be so severe. All her life she had never had any real trouble making friends. She wasn't overly popular, but she always had a steady and firm circle of friends. School teachers would always write, _likeable and friendly_ on her school reports. She never got into any fights or quarrels. Making friends was something she was good at damn it.

Until she met Gajeel Redfox.

He was busying himself with something on the wall, apparently having forgotten about her completely.

"That doesn't mean we can't be civil," she snapped, striding across to where he stood, "I'm just being friendly and I don't see why you refuse to do the same. _Really," _she poked him in the back, ignoring his current lack of clothing, "what is so wrong with me?"

"Huh?" he turned around, frown still firmly etched onto his face.

It was only then that Levy saw what was in his hands and what he had been fumbling with on the wall.

The next few moments seemed to happen in horrible slow motion.

Gajeel stepped closer. She stepped backwards, already knowing what was about to happen.

"No...move..._mo-" _she screeched as the hose he held suddenly came to life, spraying icy cold water over her body.

.

.

.

A thin band of red stretched across his nose from cheek to cheek as he sat on the stairs in the building, waiting for Levy to emerge from the bathroom.

What had happened in the last five minutes, he wasn't entirely sure. One moment he had been about to begin hosing down the parts of the kiln that were covered in soot and grime, the next he was staring at a soaking wet woman who was howling obscenities at him.

He smirked as he remembered the scene. He never would have guessed that she knew such filthy words. He had her pegged out to be the innocent girl who never stepped a toe out of line.

"Are you done yet?" he called loudly, staring at the bathroom door opposite him.

"Shut _up_!" she snapped back.

His smirked widened. She wasn't what he had expected at all.

The hose had drenched her top half almost completely. When he managed to turn the tap off, she resembled a drowned cat. A furious, drowned cat. He was sure she hadn't noticed, but her light shirt had gone somewhat see through, giving him a lovely view of a polka-dotted bra.

He shook his head in confusion. She was an odd one. On the one hand he guessed she was as innocent as his sister, especially if the polka dot bra was anything to go by. And on the other hand she was a little spitfire who could easily give as good as she got. _Very _interesting.

"I'm coming out now!" she hollered suddenly, pushing the door open and stepping out, "_don't_ laugh," she warned as she closed the door behind her and glared at him.

Ignoring her warning, he laughed, "you look like you pissed yourself."

"Jerk!" she spat, trying and failing to cover to splotch on her crotch that she had been unable to dry, "your shirt smells," she spat back, dropping the shirt so it covered her crotch.

He shrugged, "either that or you go naked. I don't mind."

He felt the red line across his face thicken slightly.

"Pervert," she muttered, shaking out her wet hair, "I'll wash your shirt and bring it back the next time I come."

He nodded wordlessly. Her own shirt had been too wet to try and dry quick enough. This was why he was still shirtless whilst she was wearing his black t-shirt. The sight was comical. The shirt dwarfed her entirely, coming up to just below her thighs. It even slipped down her right shoulder a little.

It suddenly occurred to him that he couldn't see a bra strap and the ever growing strip of red on his face spread across everywhere.

"Are you going to stay...umm...stay...shirtless?" Levy asked suddenly, stammering a little.

"Is it a problem?"

"No..." she replied slowly, "I guess not."

He frowned a little, wondering if there was anything hidden under those words but then shrugged it off, "I'm sure Natsu has an old shirt he uses as a cloth somewhere up there, I'll find it later."

"I'm not sure anything of Natsu's will fit you," she giggled a little, "he's very small...compared to you I mean."

He smirked. All his and Natsu's arguments growing up had somehow been orientated over who was bigger. Gajeel won every time, something Natsu still seemed to hold a grudge over.

"Why're you smiling?"

"I'm not."

"You are. I mentioned Natsu and you started smiling," she replied with a sly smirk, "I-woah," she blinked as he rapidly crossed the floor.

"You ask too many questions," he growled, as he took a step closer to her.

"That's my job," she retorted, stepping back until he was pushed up against the wall, "besides, I already told you. I'm just being friendly."

He brought his arms up to barricade her in and bent down to speak into her ear, "no ulterior motives?"

"N-none."

"You sure?"

"Mhm," she said firmly, looking up to meet his gaze, "I'm just a nice person."

He smirked, "good, becau-"

"Well, I know I told you to stop living in the past, but I didn't expect you to start so quickly?"

Gajeel jerked away from Levy like she had electrocuted him, "what the hell are you doing here?"

Wendy smiled and waved at her shirtless brother and the frazzled looking woman underneath him, "good afternoon to you too, Gajeel."

.

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.

**A/N: **^_^ I quite like this chapter, first proper interaction between the two. Gajeel is a perv **bwhohohohohohoho**

Random note, my computer has lost the ability to spell check, and I'm so confused? Anyone with a Mac know how to fix this? So I reread this a few times and I think I caught everything but if there's more grammar and spelling issues than usual...that's why...

Review and tell me what you thought ^_^


	5. Chapter 5

**The Scoop**

**Summary: **Everyone has a story to tell, a hidden chapter of their lives locked away itching to tell the world. Some more dangerous than others. And it's her job to tell that story.

**5; **hurt

_Hide._

That was her first, and slightly incoherent, thought. Unfortunately, her body had other ideas and refused to move from its spot pressed up against the wall and Gajeel's very shirtless chest.

The blue haired woman giggled lightly and Gajeel suddenly jerked away from her, as if she had given him an electric shock.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

If she hadn't been staring at his face, Levy would have said his question came out as a threatening snarl. Fortunately, she _was _staring up at him and could clearly see the deep red flush that had crept quickly up on him. Instead of a snarl, she thought it came out more as an embarrassed yelp.

"Good afternoon to you too, Gajeel," the blue haired woman smiled and waved nonchalantly at him, "and to your friend as well."

For a few seconds, Levy merely blinked in confusion. The woman was looking at her strangely. And with the weirdest grin on her face. A very suggestive grin.

_Ah._

Levy groaned and quickly slid out from underneath Gajeel. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going through the blue haired woman's mind.

Gajeel. Shirtless.

Her. Wearing his shirt.

Pinned underneath him against the wall.

It didn't help that Gajeel was still sweating from his earlier activities outside.

"We weren't!" she spluttered loudly, "we weren't..."

In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better to remain silent.

The blue haired woman burst into laughter whilst Gajeel groaned and shot her a piercing glare.

"I know you weren't doing anything," the woman chuckled, "it's just fun teasing Gajeel. I'm Wendy," she added waving once again to Levy.

"Oh! His little sister?" Levy asked, remembering Lucy had mentioned her before, "I'm Levy. Levy McGarden."

Wendy clapped her hands together suddenly, "ah! The person who's doing a story about Natsu."

Levy nodded.

"That's so wonderful! I'm glad someone's doing a real story on him, and not a superficial paragraph here and there! I can't wait to read it!"

And Levy knew she meant what she said. An odd sort of honesty seemed to ooze out of the young woman's word. Against her will, she couldn't help but note the differences between her and Gajeel.

Wendy was short. Probably an inch or two shorter than herself, which was a feat in itself. And she was smiling. Not the sarcastic, almost forced grimace that Gajeel appeared to call a smile. Wendy's smile took up half her face and Levy was certain it could light up the room. Her lips stretched from ear to ear as she beamed up at them. To Levy, Wendy felt like a seemingly endless bright blue sky, stretching across the heavens to bring happy days to whoever she came across. Gajeel, on the other hand, felt like a great hulking shadow, determined to drag anyone into his perpetual moodiness.

There was one similarity between them, she supposed. They both liked long hair. Wendy's long dark blue locks were pulled back into a thick braid that fell to the small of her back.

But that was where the similarities ended.

"What're you doing here?" Gajeel asked again, his earlier blush receding almost completely so his words actually seemed to hold some menace, "Natsu isn't here you know."

Wendy poked her tongue out a little, "I know that. He asked me to make sure you were working when I got some time off."

"_Bastard_," Gajeel muttered under his breath, "what? He doesn't trust me?"

"Not at all," Wendy said brightly, causing Levy to giggle loudly.

"And what's so funny?" Gajeel snapped, rounding on her so suddenly that she nearly bit her tongue.

"N-nothing!" she snapped back, "I just...well I thought the same, that you'd take advantage of Natsu's absence and maybe not come in. That's all!"

This time it was Wendy's turn to giggle, "what a great impression you're leaving on people Gajeel."

Levy had expected him to growl or snap a snarky comment back at his younger sister, instead he was staring at her with an odd look on his face.

"What?"

"I thought you didn't know Natsu wasn't here today?"

_Ah..._from the corner of her eye she could see Wendy listening in on their conversation with an interested glint in her eyes.

"Ah...yes..." she swallowed nervously, willing the ground to open up and swallow her immediately, "I did say that...didn't I?"

His mouth split into a lazy half grin, half smirk, "you did."

She watched, mortified as his gaze focused on her completely, telling her everything she needed to know. He had seen through her pretty flimsy lie.

"You know, _shortie_," his smirked widened, "if you wanted to see me al-"

"Gajeel!" Wendy shouted suddenly, "ah! I forgot, I left some food for Natsu in my car. He doesn't eat properly here unless I do shopping for him, can you go and get it for me?"

He frowned, "why didn't you just bring it in yourself?"

"It's heavy."

"_Tch, _alright, alright," he turned around abruptly, taking care to brush Wendy's hair with his hand when he passed her.

"Sorry...about him," Wendy smiled weakly at Levy once Gajeel was out of the vicinity, "he's not good with hints or subtlety."

"He...what?" Levy frowned in confusion as Wendy crossed the distance between them till they were standing just a few inches from each other.

"He hasn't had a girlfriend in _years_, so you're going to have to work harder to make him realise."

"Again...what?" it was as if Wendy was speaking in a different language.

"Ga_jeel_," she inclined her head to the side and frowned, "you like him...right?"

For the second time in ten minutes, Levy found herself praying for the floor to split in two and swallow her whole. Unfortunately, for the second time in ten minutes, her prayers were left answered.

"I..."

"Ahh!" Wendy suddenly waved her hands in front of her face and shook her head wildly, "I must be embarrassing you, right? I'm just as bad as he is."

It took a while for the realisation of what Wendy was saying to sink in.

_You like him right?_

The idea was absurd enough to make her want to laugh out loud. Did she _like _Gajeel? In the way Wendy had assumed no less? Of course not. The man was attractive, yes, and he definitely had a lot going for him physically. But that was where the so called attraction ended. She preferred her men to be polite, and not walk around with a permanent glare etched onto their face. Her interest in Gajeel was purely professional.

But, as she stared into Wendy's hopeful eyes, she realised that revealing that little truth to his younger sister might not be the best course of action. Despite her bubbly and friendly exterior, Levy got the distinct impression that Wendy had a fiercely protective side to her that she had yet to reveal.

_You like him right?_

No. The answer was a resounding no. But...as she stared into Wendy's imploring eyes, she came to a decision. It wouldn't hurt anyone to just say _yes_. Hell, it might even help her get closer to their family.

"I...ah...is it that obvious?" she muttered in what she hoped was a convincing voice.

Wendy squealed a little and then shook her head, "well, a little bit. But Gajeel's not good with things like that, so you don't need to worry! Ah, I'm so glad, he's always alone. I'm glad someone's finally got their eye on him."

Levy smiled weakly as she listened to Wendy coo. A small part of her felt guilty for leading the young woman on and lying to her, but she pushed the feeling away. It was for the best. She didn't doubt that Wendy would rush to tell Natsu her "good news" and from what she knew about Natsu, he would react in a similar manner. If she had to pretend she liked Gajeel for her to get close enough to write a piece Minerva wouldn't fire her over, then so be it. Nobody would get hurt. She didn't like Gajeel and she _knew _there was no way he thought about her like that.

A perfect plan.

.

.

.

"She's cute, huh?"

Gajeel glared at his sister, "who."

Wendy rolled her eyes as she dug her fork into her rice and scooped some up, "Levy, of course. She's cute, right?"

Gajeel shrugged, "wasn't really paying attention."

"Even when you drenched her clothes?"

"That was an accident."

Wendy sighed before shaking her head and continuing to eat her meal. Levy had left not too long after Gajeel returned having dropped Natsu's food off in his dingy kitchen.

"When are you seeing her next?"

"What's wrong with you tonight?" he grunted, feeling mildly exasperated with her insistence on the topic.

"I just want you to be happy Gajeel," Wendy muttered softly, "I worry about you sometimes, all alone in that apartment."

He sighed quietly and felt his features soften ever so slightly as he reached across the table and rapped his knuckles gently across her forehead, "what? You think because you've got a boyfriend now you're suddenly a dating advice columnist?"

She smiled a little, "this isn't about me. It's about you."

"What about Natsu. He's alone."

Wendy shook her head and frowned at him, "it's different. With you...I feel like you're shutting everyone out. Even me. But Levy...when I saw you two today-"

"Nothing happened."

"I know, I know! I just," she sighed, "I haven't seen you interact like that with anyone in a while. It made me happy."

He rolled his eyes and diverted his attention back to his food. This was a conversation he was unfortunately very familiar with. For as long as he could remember, Wendy had been berating him about his lack of need of human interaction. It had never bothered him before. He had her, Natsu and Lily. Why did he need anyone else.

Social interactions had always seem like a lot of stress for very little reward to him. He preferred his own company to the company of an idiotic stranger just for a few hours of superficial interaction.

He had never understood why it bothered Wendy so much. It didn't bother him. But every now and then she would corner him and try and coax him into changing. It wasn't always about romantic relationships. She was very big on him making friends in general.

He frowned as he watched her sip her drink. Though they'd had this conversation on numerous occasions, he'd never seen her look so serious before. The usual light that seemed to perpetually brighten her face was gone.

"Oi, kid," he reached out and tugged lightly on the few strands of hair that had fallen loose from the braid, "how many times do I have to tell you, stop worrying about me."

"I can't help it," her voice had hushed to a soft whisper, "there's lots...that I can't remember about...our family..."

Gajeel tensed up.

"But you remember it all. More than Natsu. It's like a burdens been placed solely on your shoulders, and I can't do anything about it."

"Wendy..."

She raised her palm in the air, "let me finish. And I've given up hoping you'll someday give in and talk to me about it or talk to anyone about it. But Gajeel, you need a friend. Someone outside of the family. _Not _Lily," she said sharply, already anticipating his next remark, "Lily is basically family. You need a life outside of us. And it doesn't have to be Levy, but I wasn't kidding when I said you seemed different around her."

Silence fell in Natsu's dingy kitchen as Wendy resumed her meal, leaving Gajeel to contemplate her words.

Making Wendy worry about him was, without a doubt, his least favourite thing to do. And yet it was something he seemed to do far too often.

He supposed he understood her reasoning and why it bothered her so much, he just wished he could force himself to care about it in the same manner she did. Was he happy with his life?

No.

He was the first person to admit that. There was something missing. A large gaping hole in his life. He'd spent three years searching for the missing piece and had come up empty. Maybe Wendy was right? Maybe it was time he stopped searching for the piece he wanted and settled for a similar sized piece.

He frowned at the thought of filling the hole in his life with anything but the right piece. It was out there, he knew it and he wouldn't settle for anything less. Sneakily, he glanced towards Wendy. Her face was still downcast as she slowly pushed her meat around the edge of her plate.

_Maybe he could pretend. _

The thought made him feel funny. He had made it a personal mission not to lie to her ever since they were children, having decided she'd been through enough anyway. But...he looked at her frowning face again...lying would bring a smile to her face again. And in the long run, who would it hurt?

Not him.

Not her.

_Levy_. He rolled his eyes a little. On the scale of people whose feelings he cared about, Levy was about fifty people below Wendy. And Wendy was number one.

Swallowing his pride, he sighed and loudly cleared his throat.

"Yeah...I guess she's cute."

Wendy looked up suddenly and hopeful look on her face, "what was that?"

"I said yeah...she's cute. That Levy."

As Wendy's face split into a bright grin, he decided he had made the right choice.

.

.

.

**A/N: **Aaaaaah I can't even explain how much I love Gajeel x Wendy x Natsu sibling stuff like I just see them as siblings even in canon it truly makes me want to cry.

Anyway, so the story is getting underway properly here now, just a warning this is probably going to be a slow(ish) burning ~romance~ and a fairly long fic.

As always, feel free to review ^^


	6. Chapter 6

**The Scoop**

**Summary: **Everyone has a story to tell, a hidden chapter of their lives locked away itching to tell the world. Some more dangerous than others. And it's her job to tell that story.

**6; **silver lining

The office was nearly empty by the time Levy decided she needed a break. She'd spent the last 48 hours practically glued to her computer screen researching Natsu. Her desk was practically groaning under the weight of years of backorders from various magazines, newspapers, internet clippings, and even a few DVD's or two that held a couple of short TV interviews he had done.

She hated to say it, but she was bored of him.

If Minerva wasn't her boss, she would have been able to write the piece now. She could write 5000 words and more on how Natsu got the inspiration for his pieces and how he tailored them all specifically to his client making them unique and from the part. She could wax poetic on his decision not to charge extortionate prices, meaning but the average person could purchase one with ease.

But Minerva was her boss and she needed more. And Levy still lacked the more. She needed to know why he got into sculpting, what was his motivation? She wanted cute and funny anecdotes about his home life and teenage years to slip into her piece. She needed inside information damn it.

Unfortunately, that information was proving hard to come by.

She groaned a little before sinking lower into her chair, arms crossed firmly over her chest. She was tired and bored and wanted nothing more than to be done with this piece.

"Fed up, huh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Levy mumbled, spinning around in her chair to face Lucy. The woman was still diligently tapping away at her keyboard, "how's your story going?"

Lucy was currently writing a piece on Mirajane Strauss, quite possibly the most sought after model in all of Fiore. She had grown up in Magnolia and was going to be the special guest host for the Fantasia Festival.

"It's going great! It was so nice to see Mira again, I'm so glad she's back in town. She's such a good interviewee," Lucy gushed.

Levy groaned louder and purposely slammed her head against her table, "why can't I have someone like that. You always get the good ones."

Lucy laughed, "it's your first story, it's supposed to be hard."

"Is it supposed to feel like I'm trying to squeeze out wine from a rock?"

"Partly."

"Well great, I'm right on schedule then."

Lucy laughed lightly before saving her document and shutting down her computer. Levy watched with mild interest as she packed her handbag and stood up abruptly, "you planning on leaving anytime soon?"

Levy grinned, "Luce, I planned on leaving several hours ago, but unfortunately I don't always get what I want."

Lucy chuckled and nodded as if to say she understood before waving and leaving the office. Levy waved her towards the elevator before sighing dejectedly and turning back to her computer screen.

"Ok," she muttered, clicking her knuckles, "twenty more minutes."

.

.

.

By the time she eventually left the office she was cursing her decision not to leave when Lucy had and hitch a ride with her friend. What had started off as a relatively warm and sunny day had descended into torrential downpour come the evening.

"Perfect," Levy muttered in annoyance as she tugged her jacket off and hoisted it over her head in an attempt to protect herself even a tiny bit from the the heavy rain. Reluctantly, she stepped out from beneath the small shelter she was underneath and made a mad dash to the bus stop at the top of the road. If she was lucky, the bus would arrive just as she got to the bus shelter.

As she ran she decided that it was time to start properly saving to purchase a car. Loaning a car from work clearly wasn't an option and having to wait for inconsistent public transport whenever she needed to get anywhere was just infuriating. The rain lashed against her almost painfully as she ran up the road, dodging smart pedestrians with umbrellas and raincoats. By the time she eventually reached the bus stop, the jacket she'd been using as an impromptu piece of covering was soaked through, slowly dripping onto her clothes. She glared up at the sky as she dove under the shelter. She couldn't catch a break. Not with her story, not with the weather. And...apparently not with public transport either.

She groaned before wrapping her arms tightly around her chest as she read the on screen announcement that told her she had missed her bus by a few minutes and would have to wait twenty more for the next one.

The wind took that opportunity to howl, sending a flurry of icy rain her way. She sniffed a little, feeling for herself as she attempted, and failed, to protect herself from the bitter weather.

It didn't take long before she could no longer feels her toes, and she was slowly losing all feeling in her upper body. She considered calling for a cab, but was forcibly reminded of the rather sombre state of her bank account and quickly shoved the idea away.

She shrieked suddenly as a car sped past her, splashing her dirty rainwater as it drove over a large puddle.

She sniffed as she tried, in vain, to shake some of the murky brown water off her. Just as she began to wonder how it could possibly get any worse, an almost deafening roar of thunder echoed across the sky.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no" she gasped, stepping backwards as far under the shelter as she could make it, "please n-" she shrieked as the already hard downpour intensified, sending sharp wet bullets of rain at her from all directions.

.

.

.

He yawned as he easily pulled away from Natsu's home, giving his brother a half hearted wave as he went. Natsu's car was out of commission for a few days, and so Gajeel had spent the last 48 hours playing taxi driver to him.

Usually he never would have agreed to playing taxi for Natsu, but he had offered him two days off the following week in return for his extra services, which he had eagerly agreed on. Gajeel hated to admit it, but he was _tired _of working for Natsu. The work was physically draining, lugging statue after statue to and from his studio for hours on end each day. His back was beginning to ache. It didn't leave him much time to himself either. Natsu needed him every day, for the entirety of the day.

He didn't mind helping his brother, he was proud of him after all, but he had his own crap he needed to deal with. And it didn't help that he knew Natsu wouldn't approve of what he wanted to do. So when Natsu had offered him a two day reprieve the next week, just for doing a little extra driving around, he had jumped at the opportunity.

He had been meaning to follow up on a few things he had uncovered during his absence but under the constant surveillance of Natsu and Wendy he'd had no time.

He hummed to himself quietly as he drove down the brightly lit street, watching pedestrians simultaneously try and take control of their umbrellas and run through the vicious wind and rain. For once in his life, he found himself applauding the rare amount of good luck bestowed upon him. He knew he'd hate to be out there in the storm, the way the raindrops pelted his truck was almost brutal.

Shaking his head in dismay at the sudden change in weather, he turned onto the main road and glanced around. Almost immediately, his eyes latched on to a poor soul desperately huddled under a tiny bus stop in order to hide from the rain. He almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

As he drove past the person, his eyes slowly widened in mild shock as he realised he recognised the person. He almost laughed as the shivering face of Levy McGarden came into full view. She was stood, huddled up underneath the tiny bus shelter, arms wrapped tightly around her body. From where he sat in his nice warm car, he could see her lips moving quickly, and he didn't doubt that she was furiously muttering under her breath.

The sight was rather humorous if you asked him. She stood under the shelter, shivering and undoubtedly cursing whilst cars zoomed past her, occasionally splashing her as they drove by.

He shook his head in dismay, taking pushing down lightly on the gas pedal as the lights before him turned green and the cars in front of him began to slowly push off. The situations she seemed to get herself into were almost comical. Just as he began to roll forwards and prepared to put her out of his mind, a loud rumble of thunder boomed loudly. He watched, unsurprised as the downpour increased tenfold. For a reason he couldn't quite place, he glanced backwards just in time to watch her mouth drop open into what he imagined was a small screech, as the thunder and wind sent a mini typhoon spiralling into her. The small shelter the bus stop gave wouldn't help her much now.

As he accelerated slightly, he found himself imagining Wendy's disapproving stare – which was _damn _scary – and he was forcibly reminded of their conversation. He'd reluctantly promised his younger sister that he'd try with Levy. He even went so far as calling the pint sized woman "cute". He groaned as he quickly span his steering wheel around, making a neat u-turn in the road. This was all so much hassle.

Grumbling lightly under his breath he pulled up in front of the bus stop, taking care not to splash her.

"Oi," he grunted as he wound down the passenger side window, "you need a lift?"

Not for the first time, he found himself using the words "drowned cat" to describe the small woman in front of him. Her hair was plastered haphazardly to her face, her cheeks and the tip of her nose were a light pink, her teeth chattered slightly and her clothes clung to her like a second skin. He silently thanked the heavens that she had opted to wear a darker shirt this time.

"Wha-"

"Do you want a lift or not?" he asked sharply, cutting her off before she undoubtedly asked some question that would make him want to change his mind. She wisely clamped her mouth shut and quickly tugged the door open before jumping in.

"Thank you," she mumbled as he pulled away.

He glanced sideways noticing the way she still shivered. Wordlessly, he flicked a switch and turned on the in car heating.

"Thanks," she mumbled again as tiny waves of warm air began to flow from the radiator. It probably didn't do much good, but he figured it was better than nothing.

"You make a habit of going out in thunderstorms without an umbrella?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Clearly _not." _

He didn't need to take his eyes off the road and glance at her to know she was glaring at him.

"Fine, fine. Where am I taking you? It better not be anywhere far or you're shelling out for petrol."

She huffed loudly before relaying her address and he was surprised to see it wasn't too far from his own neighbourhood. He glanced downwards briefly to see her wringing out her damp clothes.

"Oi!" he snapped, "don't ruin my seats."

She scowled up at him, "I'd rather not catch pneumonia."

"Don't exaggerate. A little water never hurt anyone."

Something that sounded oddly like a cross between a chuckle and a snort of derision fell from her lips, "I don't see _you _so eager to take a stroll out in that."

He tilted his head in agreement. She had a point.

A comfortable silence fell between the two as Gajeel drove through the streets. A few times he wondered if he should say something, but ultimately kept his mouth closed. She didn't seem to mind. For the majority of the journey she kept her gaze focussed on her window, watching the world pass them as he drove.

He wondered absentmindedly what Wendy would think of all this. Ultimately he had decided to stop and pick Levy up because he wanted to please Wendy. He didn't doubt that she'd be ecstatic. So that was something he supposed.

"What were you doing down here?" Levy asked suddenly, "sorry," she added, smiling nervously at him, "you don't have to answer."

He shrugged, "I was dropping Natsu home."

She cocked her head to the side in confusion, "he...he lives around here?"

"Yeah...about ten minutes from where I picked you up!"

"_And he couldn't tell me?" _she hissed, balling her fists up to punch lightly on her thighs, "I've been traipsing to his studio in the middle of nowhere, and he lives ten minutes from my office?" she sighed loudly, "you Dragneel's are causing me nothing but stress," she mumbled.

Gajeel sniggered, "he probably didn't even think about it," he offered up, knowing just how spacey his brother could be with things like that.

"Well he _should _have," she continued to mutter, pouting slightly, "I've been spending a small fortune on public transport."

Gajeel smirked as he listened to her mutter furiously under her breath. He half heartedly wondered if he should warn Natsu of the oncoming storm that was coming his way in the form of a five foot four blue haired woman.

"Ah, turn down here!" she said suddenly.

He frowned as he turned the corner.

"And it's just this one, right here!"

His frowned deepened as he ground his truck to a halt across the road from the apartment complex she had pointed out. If it were possible, her neighbourhood seemed worse than his own.

The walls of the apartment block were covered in graffiti, most of it obscene, and all the neighbouring blocks or houses seemed to be either vacant or very, very silent. His eyes narrowed into thin slits as a tall man slunk by his truck.

"Here?" he asked in disbelief, eyes still on the tall man, "you live here?"

"Mhmm! It's not as bad as it looks, I promise," she laughed as she unbuckled her belt.

For some reason, he found that hard to believe.

"Well, thank you for the ride," she smiled up at him, "I probably would've frozen to death if I was out there any longer."

He shrugged nonchalantly, "it's fine. You're not that far from me anyway."

"Do...do you want to come in? For a drink or something before you go?" she asked suddenly, a faint blush spreading, "ah! And I have your t-shirt you let me wear that...uh...you know," she finished quietly, bowing her head a little.

"It's fine," he said brusquely, "just bring it the next time you're at Natsu's."

"Ah, ok, well," she placed her hand on the door handle, "thank you Gajeel, it was very...nice of you."

He shrugged and nodded, not wanting to tell her the only reason he really stopped for her was so he would have something to keep Wendy content.

She smiled once again before she pushed the door open and stepped out, closing it firmly behind her. She waved before turning and crossing the pavement.

He watched as she dove into her purse and pulled out what he imagined was a set of keys. He was just about to pull away, when something caught his eyes. He slammed on the brakes and stared with narrowed eyes at the tall man from before. He watched as the man seemed to do a double take and stop and watch as Levy strode past him. A feeling of dread seemed to creep up on his as he watched the man hesitate for just a second before he changed direction and began moving towards where Levy walked.

"_Bastard_" he hissed as he quickly jumped out of his car, slamming the door as loudly as he could.

His actions had the intended affect.

The tall man jumped slightly as soon as the slamming door reached his ears. Almost immediately, he slunk off into the shadows.

Gajeel glared at him as he strode past.

"Gajeel?" Levy asked in confusion as she turned around to find him quickly walking up behind her, "are you ok?"

He hesitated for a moment, "I'm...uh, I'm gonna take you up on that drink offer."

Her lips stretched into an impossibly wide grin, "lovely."

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_**A/N: **_*nervous laughter* ok so yes this is ridiculously late.

Long story short, I wrote it to go up on time and then reread it and decided I hated it (trust me it was not a good first draft wow) and so I thought I could rewrite it in time to update it on time but no I am terrible if I don't give myself deadlines so yeah that is why this is late

But fear not! The next chapter won't be!

So review, feel free to yell at me, I don't mind!

Also, if you have tumblr, or even if you don't, I made a blog specifically for drabbles/shorter fics and I have quite a few up there so check out : gildarts on tumblr!

Bye!


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